Grit & Growth

How can small businesses gain access to the working capital they need? Zach Bijesse of Payhippo and Tunde Kehinde of Lidya are trying to figure it out. Hear how new technologies are changing the future of lending for small businesses in Nigeria, Africa, and the world.With over 200 million people and 40 million small businesses, Nigeria is the perfect spot to launch a fintech company that’s trying to push the boundaries of how businesses get capital. Both Zach Bijesse and Tunde Kehinde saw a huge market opportunity in Nigeria with its sheer size and strong startup culture. Their companies, Payhippo and Lidya, respectively, are using artificial intelligence and machine learning to make lending faster and more accessible for entrepreneurs, and in turn, more successful for this new breed of lender.Zach makes the problem clear: “Businesses can’t get money in Nigeria when they need it. It’s that simple.” Tunde believes that artificial — and human — intelligence are key to filling the small business lending gap. “Humans are involved in setting the rules. I think on average per loan, we have close to a thousand data points we look at. And so humans are looking to say, based on our assessment criteria, is it working or not working? And if it's not working, how do we tweak the rules to make sure the recollection is done properly?” Likewise Zach’s Payhippo endorses ongoing experimentation and the importance of training their algorithms to get better over time. “People forget that you can only train your machine learning algorithm based on your data set. So, you know, we have a few defaults in our loan portfolio. That's not a bad thing. You just have to give loans and figure out what works.”Unlike most entrepreneurs, these two aren’t intimidated by competition, even from banks themselves. Instead, they’re always looking for opportunities to collaborate and partner. As Zach explains, “there's a $46 billion opportunity for small business lending in Nigeria. Why would Payhippo need to take one hundred percent of the market? Let's keep growing and do what we do. And then once we get a little bit of bandwidth, it'd be great to empower the other guys and collaborate with them. That's really exciting to us because then the whole financial infrastructure develops and it's better for everyone.”Listen to Zach and Tunde’s story to learn how technology and new ways of thinking can impact how you approach and solve your specific business and market challenges.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Meet Ankit Agarwal, Founder of Phool, a flower recycling business based in Kanpur, India. By collecting waste flowers from temples and converting them into eco-friendly products, the company is making an impact on both the women they employ who live near the sacred yet polluted Ganges River and the river itself. Ankit’s entrepreneurial journey began with a question from a friend who was visiting the Ganges:  “If this river is so sacred, why is it so polluted? And why don't you do something about it?” Ankit did just that.“Every year, we, Indians, put in about eight million tons of waste flowers in the waters. All the pesticides that are used to grow these flowers mixes with the river water, making it highly toxic. That is the leading cause of diarrhea, hepatitis and severe cholera across India and Bangladesh, where the water flows. Finally, I decided to form a company where we can collect waste flowers and do some products.”Ankit believes real change will not happen in this generation...but he is hopeful. ”It will happen in the next generation, when the kids of the women that we're able to employ start going to school: their next generation will be liberated from scavenging.” Listen to Ankit’s mini profile to learn how a great business idea can change lives for generations.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Meet Linda Ampah, founder of KAD Manufacturing and a fashion brand called Cadling Fashions based in Ghana. Linda’s entrepreneurial journey has had all the typical hurdles plus the extra challenges of being a female business owner in Africa. That’s why providing job opportunities for women is central to her mission.Linda has always loved the sound of sewing machines. Now she gets to hear them all the time in her factories where she manufactures school uniforms and makes garments for U.S. brands like Anthropologie and Brooklyn Industries. “In Ghana, in the marketplaces there are women and girls who sleep on the streets. We went out asking them whether they'll be interested to come and train? And the response we got was just amazing. We invited them over and then we started training them. Now the challenge though was that because they didn't have a place to stay, they get raped. We decided we'll add housing to it. And usually after a year, they are able to rent their own place then they move from the hostel.”Listen to Linda’s mini-profile to learn how employing women in need can have a ripple effect on an entire community.Please take a few moments and provide us with your feedback on Grit & Growth. We would love to hear what you’re interested in learning about and how we can make the content we create relevant to your growth journey. Resources:Pieces of the Portrait: An Autobiography by Linda AmpahSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on communicating with confidence, featuring Matt Abrahams, Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer in strategic communications. Whether pitching to investors, reporting to your board, or motivating employees, Abrahams has tips and tricks for managing anxiety and making an impact with both what you say and how you say it.Abrahams knows a thing or two about communicating. Whether he’s teaching MBAs at Stanford GSB or hosting his podcast “Think Fast, Talk Smart,” he advises entrepreneurs on the value of “Speaking Up Without Freaking Out” — which is also the title of his best-selling book.Abrahams believes confidence and mindset can be developed to alleviate anxiety and improve almost any pitch or meeting. He’s also on a personal mission to stop entrepreneurs from beginning their presentations with “Hi, my name is _______, and today we're going to talk about_________.”“That is boring. It's silly because you're showing a slide that has your name and your topic on it. I like to joke that every good pitch should start like a James Bond movie. No, not with sex and violence, but with action, get people participating and focused … and that's what will help people get interested in what you're saying.”Top Seven Masterclass Takeaways Some anxiety is a good thing. It can give you energy and focus. Abrahams suggests using cognitive reframing to use your excitement about your business and vision to manage your fear of pitching.Use nonverbal cues to convey confidence … even if you’re not feeling it. Gesture more slowly, make direct eye contact, take deep breaths to slow your speech rate down. These nonverbal cues will make people think you’re confident, which will actually make you feel more confident.Record yourself and watch it. Rather than judge and evaluate based upon your own internal dialogue, try to see what others will see in the pitch or presentation.Mindfulness can help you manage anxiety. Give yourself permission to be nervous — it’s only human. And forgive yourself if you’re nervous or make a mistake. That’s human, too.Create a compelling hook. Make sure it grabs people’s attention and is relevant. Abrahams explains, “If you do something different, you automatically stand out. You've got my attention just because you did something different.”Learn to tell your story fast and slow. Have a two-minute, 10-minute, and 30-minute version to deliver depending upon the situation.Consider cultural differences and pay attention to social status. Low context and high context cultures require different approaches. And hierarchy and social status should impact how you communicate.Listen to Abrahams’ insights, advice, and strategies for how entrepreneurs can communicate with greater confidence and learn how you can improve your next pitch, board meeting, or presentation.Please take a few moments and provide us with your feedback on Grit & Growth. We would love to hear what you’re interested in learning about and how we can make the content we create relevant to your growth journey. ResourcesPodcast SurveyThink Fast Talk Smart podcastNo Freaking Speaking See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Meet Martin Stimela, CEO of Botswana-based Brastorne Enterprises, and Matt Abrahams, Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer and communications expert. As Martin prepares to pitch his business expansion plan, hear Matt’s tips on how to grab attention, harness emotions, and create a lasting connection with your audience. Then listen in on Martin’s actual pitch...and Matt’s feedback. Almost every entrepreneur eventually needs to make a pitch to capture attention...and dollars. Martin Stimela is no exception. As CEO of Brastorne Enterprises, he’s looking to raise capital to scale his growing technology company to 19 more countries, starting with Cameroon, Ethiopia, Guinea, and Mali. His vision: to connect the unconnected by enabling Internet access without the need for expensive data plans or smartphones. Matt Abrahams shares some tips and then listens in on Martin’s pitch. Matt Abrahams is a Stanford lecturer and host of the podcast "Think Fast, Talk Smart," and he has plenty of strategic communications advice and techniques for both Martin and fellow entrepreneurs. Before you even write the first word of your pitch, Matt suggests you need to think first about who your audience is and what they need from you.“A fundamental mistake people make is they start by saying, here are the things I want to say. Rather, you need to focus on What do I want them to know? How do I want them to feel? And what do I want them to do?”Here are a few pitch-worthy pieces of advice:Create a good hook to capture people’s attention“You know, 99% of people start with: Hi, my name is_______. Today, I'm going to talk about______. If you do something different, you automatically stand out as different.”Introduce a character“Think about leveraging testimonials, examples of how people are benefiting from your particular set of offerings. If we become familiar with a particular person and their situation, it makes it much more real for us than simply talking in generality.”Be conversational“Avoid reading word for word from a script or slides. Instead, focus on the structure of your message and the key ideas you want to get across.”Practice by teachingLike most things in business and life, practice makes perfect. And Matt encourages practicing by teaching.“Something that I find very useful for entrepreneurs to do is when they're working on pitches, I invite them to actually think about how would they teach somebody else to pitch their business. So bringing on a co-founder or a colleague, how would you teach them to pitch the business by putting themselves in the role of teacher, it helps them see things that we don't typically see.”Listen to Matt’s advice and Martin’s pitch to learn new strategies and techniques to improve your own pitch.Think Fast Talk Smart podcastNo Freaking Speaking Stanford SeedStanford Graduate School of BusinessSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on crisis management and mindset, featuring Baba Shiv, Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor of Marketing. From mental to physical preparation, Baba provides insights on cultivating an innovative mindset to help you survive and thrive in challenging times.Professor Shiv is an expert in neuroeconomics and decision making. He works with entrepreneurs—from Silicon Valley to emerging markets—on the practice of innovation and how to build a risk-tolerant mindset. Which he believes is especially important in times of crisis.Baba explains that there are two types of mindsets. Type one is a fear of failure or risk-averse mindset. Type two is a fear of missing out on opportunities or risk-tolerant mindset. In times of crisis or stress, it’s harder to switch between the two if you haven’t prepared.“What the rational brain is good at is simply rational...listing what the emotional brain has already decided to do, which means if you're stuck in a risk-averse mindset, the rational brain will come in and say, these are the reasons why you have to be risk-averse. These are the reasons why you should not innovate, etc. Whereas if you're in a type two mindset, the rational brain will come in and say, here are the reasons why you should take some chances.”And Baba believes that taking chances, especially in times of crisis when your competitors aren’t, is how leaders and companies can succeed. Baba has seen firsthand that entrepreneurs from emerging economies are particularly innovative, “they’re facing constraints all the time and as a result are more resourceful, not in spite of their situations, but because of them.”Top Six Masterclass Takeaways1. Sleep. Without it, you’re more likely to wake up feeling risk-averse...the antithesis to innovation.2. Calm your mind and the rest will follow -- develop a meditation, yoga, or tai chi practice to make your breath and brain more resilient to stress.3. Pay attention to your heart—actually your heart rate variability—so you know if it’s a good time to make an important decision.4. Innovation = creativity multiplied by execution divided by constraints. Don’t forget to think about your constraints in the design process.5. Focus on building your collaborative advantage (not just competitive advantage) by developing meaningful connections with suppliers, customers, partners, even competitors. You’ll make more progress with relationships based on trust than just transactions.6. Instill an innovative mindset throughout your company — survival is going to come from teamwork.Listen to Baba’s insights, advice, and strategies for developing an innovative, risk-tolerant mindset and how working together can help leaders and their teams handle and overcome crises.ResourcesLearn more about Professor Baba ShivThinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel KahnemanStanford SeedSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Meet Kwami Williams, co-founder and CEO of MoringaConnect, and Brian Lowery, Stanford Graduate School of Business professor, to learn how one Ghanaian entrepreneur overcame fires, floods, theft, and COVID to build a more resilient and successful company.Kwami’s path to co-founding a social agriculture venture in Ghana based on the native Moringa tree was anything but straightforward. As a Ghanaian-American MIT graduate in aerospace engineering, his first love was flight. But on a trip back to Ghana, after 10 years in the U.S., he decided to focus his life on improving the lives of the people in his home country and continent.Five years into running the business, they were helping smallholder farmers plant Moringa trees and then adding value to the raw materials with a flagship consumer brand. Everything started to unravel in 2019, starting with a wildfire that burned over 15,000 trees, then a factory fire, floods, and a robbery. 2020 only added fuel to the fire with COVID.Kwami knew he needed help to tackle these back-to-back crises, and chose honesty over pride.“If I could give one piece of advice to an early-stage entrepreneur, I would tell them to build an amazing team of people who they could go to war with because the hard days, the bad days, the battles will come.”“I just acknowledged the fact that I have no idea how to bounce back from this. So I just committed to vulnerability from the get-go. And I committed to communicating as much as possible from the get-go.”Brian Lowery agrees that vulnerability is vital to both personal and professional growth. As a Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford Graduate School of Business, he is an expert on the psychology of leadership and training future leaders like Kwami. According to Brian:“The leader is not the person with the answers. The leader is the person who brings people together to help figure out what the best answers are around a range of issues.”Kwami and his team found ways to overcome adversity by taking one slow, intentional step at a time and asking themselves:“Why is this happening? What can we learn from it? Let's also pause and ask ourselves. Okay. What can we start? What can we stop and what should continue? And once those ideas materialize, we just say, what is the smallest version of that we can commit to and be consistent with?”And, despite facing a 90% reduction in revenue, the team stayed true to their mission of giving back to the community with give-back campaigns supporting COVID health workers and racial justice organizations. Today, the True Moringa brand has taken off and is poised to raise its first equity round in the second half of 2021. And most importantly to Kwami, they’ve planted over 2 million trees and are serving over 5,000 women and family farmers across Ghana.Listen to Kwami’s inspiring story and Brian’s insights to learn how to build resiliency in yourself and your company so you can handle whatever life throws at you.Resources:Know What You See with Brian Lowery Podcast on Apple PodcastsKnow What You See with Brian Lowery Podcast on SpotifyThe Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben HorowitzSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on the ins & outs of mergers & acquisitions in Africa, featuring Victor Basta CEO of DAI Magister. From attracting potential buyers to navigating due diligence, Victor provides practical, tactical advice based on 30 years of experience shepherding M&A deals in Europe, the Middle East and across Africa.Victor Basta has facilitated deals and strategic exits for founders of fast-growing, tech-enabled companies across Africa. And he truly considers it a privilege to be a part of these life-changing events for entrepreneurs, companies, and the continent as a whole.“Everything we work on is more than an inflection point, more than a pivot point for a company. It sometimes is make or break whether they survive or not. ”Investing in frontier markets like Africa has both increased perils and possibilities. Which is all the more reason why Victor advises founders to prepare from day one for that eventual life-changing deal. Because, as Victor says, you don’t really get to choose your moment, know when the exit window might open, or control the events.So, what does success look like? According to Victor it's having to make only small compromises in the final stages of the deal because you’ve prepared and listened during due diligence to know what’s most important to the buyer. “When you have the least leverage possible, success is that you know it, and you live to fight another day. What I try to do is plan ahead for compromises that seem bigger than they really are.”Top Seven Masterclass TakeawaysSet your sights on being bought -- not sold.Develop strategic relationships with likely buyers years ahead of when they actually might buy.Get on the radar screen by proactively broadcasting your message and demonstrating your expertise and viability.Support your own team's growth so you can show buyers that you’ve got people who are ready to take the reins.Always behave as if you’re open to discussions with potential buyers, even if you’re not emotionally ready to sell.Before due diligence starts, make sure your entire senior team has rehearsed the message.Prepare to make compromises at the end stages of the deal -- the smaller the better.Listen to Victor’s insights, advice, and strategies to help prepare for your own successful merger or acquisition.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Meet Caroline Wanjiku, cofounder of Daproim Africa, and Victor Basta, CEO of DAI Magister, and learn how one intrepid Kenyan entrepreneur overcame adversity to transform her bootstrapped social enterprise into a strategic acquisition.Caroline’s entrepreneurial journey began like most other ambitious founders. She and her business partner (and eventual husband) created Daproim in 2006 with a vision to make Kenya a destination for IT outsourcing. A chance encounter with the Rockefeller Foundation in 2011 led to a grant and a realization that the business they were building was also a social enterprise. Caroline explains:“We were employing friends, women, mainly people who were from underprivileged backgrounds. So, when we bumped into Rockefeller Foundation they were quick to tell us that what you are doing is actually called social impact. You know, we didn't have a word for it until then.”A few years and 500 employees later, a tragic turn of events changed everything. On the day she was giving birth to her first child, her husband and co-founder also entered the hospital with a life-threatening disease. Caroline had no choice but to take on the role of CEO.“My first reaction was like, I can't do this. And one of my mentors came and visited me and told me, "You know what? You need to do it for your child. Find a way to gather yourself, take as much time as you need, but the goal is to make sure that this business continues."Victor Basta also believes in the power of mentorship, especially in an ecosystem like Africa where “hardly anybody’s done an exit...the playbook hasn’t been written.” Victor helps fast-growing, tech-enabled businesses like Daiprom do everything from raising capital to acquisitions. And when Caroline was approached by StepWise, an American outsourcing company, she sought out mentors again to help her understand the deal on the table and keep her emotions in check.Victor advises “don't talk to very many people about it because you are going to be in sell mode because of the lack of experience. It would be useful to be able to find somebody in your broader orbit that has actually gone through it. You know, they may help you at least avoid going what I would call guardrail to guardrail with your emotions.”In February 2020, the day before the lockdown, StepWise acquired Daproim. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing and Caroline admits to mistakes and misunderstandings, namely assuming that she would remain as CEO after the acquisition.“So in my mind, I thought automatically I'd remain as CEO. So, I didn't have any doubts. I didn't think I needed to bring it up until later. I'd advise anyone to just make sure you talk about everything and not to assume.”When Caroline eventually decided to move on from Daproim, it was not without the advice of her trusted mentors. Listen to Caroline’s amazing story and Victor’s insights to learn how to prepare for the unexpected and avoid potential pitfalls—before, during and after an acquisition.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Welcome to Grit & Growth’s masterclass on the investment landscape in India, featuring Sandeep Singhal, Managing Director of Nexus Venture Partners. A pioneer of venture capital in India, Sandeep shares practical tips for entrepreneurs seeking early-stage funding.After working in Silicon Valley and at McKinsey, Sandeep cofounded one of India’s first incubators in the 1990s. Over the last several decades, he has witnessed the tremendous growth of entrepreneurship and investment in India. Today, he works at Nexus Venture Partners, one of the first India-US venture funds that invests in global technology products and technology-led businesses for India.In this episode, Sandeep explores the evolving market trends in India, and shares how he evaluates investment opportunities. He also discusses the most common mistakes that entrepreneurs make during early fundraising stages. Top Six Takeaways:The Indian market is evolving from a value or discount based market towards one of convenience.Familiarize yourself with the investor ecosystem: identify potential investment partners and their areas of interest in advance.To attract early-stage investors, you need to demonstrate passion and a strong focus on product-market fit with a scalable go-to-market strategy.Don’t go-to-market stating a valuation expectation ― have the market tell you what it thinks is a fair valuation.It’s important to have clarity on the risks your business faces.To attract strong partners, you need to demonstrate real insight into the competitive landscape of their market.Listen to Sandeep’s advice to help you raise capital and grow your business.Resources:Nexus Venture Partners: https://nexusvp.com/ Stanford Seed: http://stanfordseed.co/GritSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.